1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a housing, in particular a housing for a bar code reader including first and second housing halves, and an arrangement for the locking thereof. Further, the invention relates to an arrangement for mounting the housing onto a table, and an arrangement for mounting a glass plate over an opening in the wall of the housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various electronic devices enclosed by a housing of plastic material. In general, such a plastic housing includes first and second housing halves which are connected to define the housing. In order to connect and lock the housing halves to each other a locking arrangement is employed, which allows the connection of the housing halves without screws.
FIG. 26A is a partial section of a housing, and shows an example of such a locking arrangement of the prior art. In FIG. 26A, a housing 100 includes first and second housing halves 101 and 102 which connect to each other to define the housing 100. The first housing half 101 includes a recess or a groove 103 while the second housing half 102 includes a hook which engages the recess 103, as shown in FIG. 26A. The recess 103 and the hook 104 provide a locking arrangement so that the first and second housing halves 101 and 102 are locked to each other through the engagement.
The locking arrangement of the prior art shown in FIG. 26A allows a person to assemble the housing easily. On the other hand, in order to disengage the hook 104 from the recess 103 during disassembling, it is necessary to depress the edge of the second housing 102 around the hook 104 as shown by arrow A, or to pull the edge of the first housing 101 around the recess 103 as shown by arrow C. In order to carry out such a work, a tool such as a driver must be used. Further, it is difficult work to move one of the first and second housing halves 101 and 102 away from the other with the edges depressed or pulled. Thus, in the locking arrangement of the prior art, during disassembling for maintenance, difficult and time consuming work is inevitable.
Further, an error in the dimensions of the housing or the locking arrangement makes impossible to connect and secured the housing halves to each other. FIG. 26B shows a case in which the first housing half 101 is made larger than the designed dimension so that the hook 104 cannot engage the recess 103 sufficiently. Furthermore, in general, an elongated recess is not provided so that the recess must be accurately disposed at a position corresponding to the hook 104. Thus, the relative position between the recess and the hook is critical so that an error in the position also makes it possible to connect and secured the housing halves to each other.
The invention is directed to solve the above mentioned prior art problems, and the objective of the invention is to provide an arrangement, for locking first and second housing halves of a housing, which is improved to make it possible to easily connect and disconnect the first and second housing halves.
Further, the objective of the invention is to provide an arrangement, for locking first and second housing halves of a housing, which is improved to ensure the locking action in spite of an error in the dimensions of the housing halves or in the position of the locking arrangement.
According to the invention, there is provided an arrangement for locking first and second housing halves to each other. The arrangement comprises a pin provided on the first housing, and a locking member with a pair of arms which are provided on the second housing to engage and hold the pin when the first and second housings are connected.
The arms preferably define an engagement surface to mate with the outer surface of the pin.
Further, there is provide a housing which comprises first and second housings adapted to connect to each other, a pin provided on the inner surface of the first housing, and a locking member with a pair of arms which are provided on the inner surface of the second housing to engage and hold the pin when the first and second housings are connected.
The arrangement of the invention enables the housing halves to be connected and disconnected easily. Moreover, the arrangement of the invention ensures the locking action in spite of an error in the dimensions of the housing halves.
Further, there is provided an arrangement for mounting a housing to a table. The arrangement comprises a mounting member which includes a first wall adapted to be inserted into the housing and to be secured to the housing, and a second wall adapted to be secured to the table. The first and second walls are connected to each other. A guide is provided in the housing for guiding the first wall inserted into the housing.
The first and second walls are preferably connected perpendicularly to each other. The mounting member may include a positioning tab provided on the second wall parallel to the first wall which is inserted to an opening in the housing.
Further, there is provided an arrangement for mounting a glass plate over an opening provided in a wall of a housing. The arrangement comprises a plurality of catches, proved on the surface of the housing along the periphery of the opening, for clamping a glass plate mounted over the opening, the catches including flexible ends extending over the wall of the housing, the flexible ends resiliently deforming, when the glass plate is mounted over the opening, to press the glass plate onto the wall of the housing. A stopper is provided on the wall of the housing along the periphery of the opening, the stopper abutting the lower end of the glass plate to support it when the glass plate is mounted over the opening.